Believe Me!
by NejiKikyoAnimeRose
Summary: Plot bunny #562, "Neji is nearly raped and puts his attacker in the hospital. However, everyone believes he attacked the man unprovoked." Implied ShikaNeji


"_Neji is nearly raped and puts his attacker in the hospital. However, everyone thinks he attacked the man unprovoked."_

"What the hell--!?" Neji spluttered as his back hit the wall behind him.

"Relax," the man before him whispered in what he believed was a seductive voice. "I know you want to be free from your cage. I'm just opening the door." The man leaned in and covered Neji's soft virgin lips with his own. Neji shoved him away, making him growl angrily. He pushed himself further against the Hyuuga, grinding his groin against the other's. Neji bit his lip to prevent a groan from escaping him. Damn it! He wasn't gay! And he sure as hell would not allow his body to go about its own musings while being raped by a man he didn't know and had never seen before!

"Get off of me!" The Hyuuga hissed dangerously, the muscles in his hand tightening angrily. The man sniggered.

"But, you want this," he said smoothly. "Your body is reacting positively. You can't keep any secrets from me." He leaned in again, and his hand found its way down to Neji's shorts. The Hyuuga's eyes widened. That was far enough.

With an angry flash of his eyes and a tensing of veins, he threw the offending party off of him. The man fell back but regained his balance, looking angrily at the brunette prodigy. He started furiously toward the boy again but Neji was ready. His chakra flared angrily as a warning. As frustrated as he was, he wasn't going to unleash his Gentle Fist techniques on a civilian. Unless it was this one.

"What are you doing?" the man growled, advancing on the Hyuuga and reaching into his pocket slowly. Neji watched him with narrowed eyes. The angry pulsing veins had calmed and he simply waited for his attacker to go too far.

"Defending myself," Neji said simply. "I don't take to being molested." The man sniggered.

"It's just a night of pleasure, kid," he said, moving forward still. "We'll both forget about it and go our separate ways as soon as it's over. And you'll never hear from me again." He now had Neji against the wall again, his arms bracing him, his hands on the wall behind the Hyuuga. He leaned in and licked his lips.

"Unless I want more," he whispered. Neji twitched and the man took advantage of his slightly lowered guard. His leg was soon shoved painfully between Neji's legs so that the brunette boy couldn't run and his body was soon pressed against the Hyuuga's, his hips rotating against Neji's causing friction and heat. Neji winced and struggled away, but the man held firm. When his lips began sucking roughly at Neji's collarbone, the prodigy decided to put his foot down. Metaphorically and literally. Using hands enforced with chakra, Neji pushed out and sent the man spiraling away from him. He landed on the ground a few meters away from the Hyuuga and stood up, spluttering angrily. He started towards Neji and tried to pin him down again, but the Hyuuga spun gracefully around him and sent two fingers pounding into his back. The man jerked forward and tried to catch himself. Neji spun around once more and jutted his palm into the man's stomach. The man's eyes widened and he fell to his knees, the spluttering and rasping soon coming to a stop.

Neji stood, breathing heavily; angrily, his narrowed eyes on the limp man lying before him. His mouth was open slightly and his teeth were gritted out of anger. How dare he!? How dare he try to rape a shinobi!? And a Hyuuga, no less! Neji supposed it may have had something to do with the fact that he was a Branch member, but he doubted it a little.

His train of angry thought was interrupted by a desperate shriek.

"Oh, my kami!! What did you do!?" Neji turned and saw a woman run up to the lifeless man lying on the ground and collapse to her knees beside him. She picked up his body in her arms, calling his name, which Neji chose to block out of his mind. She turned to look at the Hyuuga with cold and tear filled eyes.

"How could you!?" she screamed at him. "Do you normally attack innocent citizens!?" Neji looked hard at her and she flinched.

"Are you his wife?" he asked, his voice straining from the tension of keeping it controlled. The woman nodded.

"Yes, I am his wife!" she cried to him. "And I hope to stay that way! You know we have three children at home!? If he dies it's your fault!" Neji tensed. Bastard. On top of trying to rape the Hyuuga, the man had also almost cheated on his wife. Neji turned away and clenched his eyes shut. He tried to calm his angrily beating heart but it refused to slow. In his blood he could feel the anger and rage rushing through him. He could feel the sympathy and pity towards this woman who had been so horribly deceived by the man she called husband. He could feel the guilt at having taken away something that she considered to be true. And it all mixed together to make one horrible emotion called hate. Hate towards himself, and hate towards the man who had almost taken away his purity.

Neji didn't know what happened in those next few hours. It had all happened too fast, and everything was a blur to him, but somehow the man had ended up at the hospital and Neji was being reprimanded by someone far worse than the man's wife; his own friends.

"Neji, what the hell were you thinking!?" Tenten shouted at him in the waiting room. Neji couldn't believe it. Standing around him were his teammates and his sensei, all wearing uncharacteristically serious expressions. Next to them was Team 7, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. They looked at him silently, even Naruto wearing that scolding look on his face. Kakashi's book was away and he stood with his arms folded, his expression unreadable. Teams 8 and 10 also stood with them and there was a ringing silence in the room as the shinobi all looked at Neji, hardly hiding their disdain at what he had done.

"Neji, why would you just attack a citizen?" Tenten asked incredulously. "Out of the blue like that?" Neji looked at her, his eyes emotionless and showing no sign of anything. He opened his mouth and spoke quietly.

"It wasn't out of the blue," he said stoically. Tenten leaned toward him.

"What?" she asked. Neji's blank look remained the same.

"I didn't randomly attack a civilian," he said. "It was provoked. Though why I need to be saying this to people whom I believed to be my companions, I'll never know." The anger was pulsating throughout him again as he turned and walked calmly out of the hospital. No one followed him. They all just watched him, unreadable expressions still on their faces.

Neji walked out into the streets of Konoha and walked quickly down the sidewalk, trying to get as far away from the clear distaste and shunning attitudes that emanated from the hospital as possible. As he walked he couldn't help but notice that he seemed to attract many looks of anger and discreet hate from many of the passersby. He ignored them to the best of his abilities, but it was hard. He didn't know why but the stares and glares of the pedestrians seemed to make him smaller, forcing him to shrink down to a size of insignificance that symbolized a weak hated thing that could never belong. He scowled. Damn, why was this affecting him so much? He didn't need the acceptance of these people who didn't understand and he didn't know why their quiet yet fervent disdain for him bothered him so much.

"It's nothing," he told himself softly over and over again. "They're nothing." But he knew this was wrong. They weren't nothing and if they were that made him even more of a nothing, since he cared. Since he valued their scornful opinions. Neji walked down the street, silently cursing himself for caring. He found himself sincerely hoping that Hiashi would believe him. Without realizing what he was doing, the Hyuuga increased his pace slightly as he neared the Hyuuga Compound. He walked swiftly through the gates, searching for Hiashi.

"Neji." Neji spun around and saw the firm face of his uncle and felt a small hope begin to build up inside of him. He bit back a small smile and bowed politely.

"Hiashi-sama," Neji said. Hiashi nodded and Neji straightened. He opened his mouth to say something, but the elder Hyuuga held up a hand and silenced him.

"Neji, I heard about what happened tonight," he said. He looked hard at Neji, whose gaze never once left his and continued. "I heard about where you were and what you did. And about the reason for your committing such a crime. Or lack of reason." He stopped and Neji's eyes widened without the prodigy realizing it. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening! Even his own uncle refused to believe him! Even his own uncle would not hear him out and make an effort to understand him. Neji was speechless. He could find nothing to say. His ears popped slightly and Hiashi's words slurred together so he couldn't distinguish them.

"Why?" he choked out. Hiashi stopped speaking abruptly and stared at his nephew.

"That's what I was asking you," he said firmly. "Why would you do something like that unprovoked? Are you aware that this action has brought dishonor to your clan? Our clan?" Neji's mouth parted in shock. Dishonor? Dishonor brought to him and his clan because he had simply tried to keep someone from molesting him? How did that make him dishonorable?

"You," Neji paused and took a deep breath. "You believe that this was unprovoked? Truly believe it?" He looked straight at Hiashi and the man's features were confused, but Neji could read them easily. Hiashi did believe that Neji had attacked that man for no reason. The young Hyuuga looked down and bowed stiffly.

"Excuse me," he said quietly, turning to leave, Hiashi standing confused in his wake.

Neji walked, once again through the streets of Konoha, his eyes down and his mind preoccupied. Perfect. Now, not only did his friends think he just randomly attacked residents, but his uncle did as well. Who did that leave who may believe him? No one.

Neji knew what this meant. It was inevitable, as much as he didn't like it. He walked silently to the Hokage's tower, determinedly keeping his gaze from straying to the hospital as he passed. As he arrived, he looked up and saw the window that led to the Hokage's office. He sighed, opening the door and ascending the stairs.

He reached the office and knocked twice. Tsunade's voice barked at him to enter. He did. He was surprised to see, upon entering, that his entire team was there, along with Teams 7, 8 and 10. He assumed that they were talking to Tsunade about what he did. Neji raised his brow but ignored them as he walked to the Godaime's desk. He bowed as he approached.

"Hyuuga," Tsunade said. "What do you need?" Neji looked at her and then reached up and untied his hitaite, removing it from his forehead. Looking her straight in the eye, he presented the metal band to her. She looked at it, confused and then turned to focus her gaze on him. Neji opened his mouth and spoke calmly.

"I resign from my status as a Genin and I give up my hitaite," he said. "I am no longer a shinobi." The reaction was immediate and shocked. Tenten's mouth dropped, and Lee and Gai were rendered speechless, a first for them. Hinata gasped and froze, too shocked even to blush or quiver. Kiba's eyes widened and Shino showed no sign of reaction, but he did tense slightly. Shikamaru did a double take and Ino and Sakura screamed, "What!?" Sasuke just blinked and gave Neji a surprised look. Naruto went crazy.

"What the hell are you talking about, Neji!?" he shouted, grabbing the Hyuuga's shoulders and forcing him around to face him. Neji regarded the blonde with calm but cold eyes.

"I mean what I say," he said. "I'm giving up my status as a shinobi. No more am I your partner." Naruto looked at him furiously.

"Neji, this isn't funny!" he growled through gritted teeth. "Cut the crap!" Neji reached up and gripped the Uzumaki's hands, removing them from his shoulders.

"If I can't trust you to believe me about something like this," he said calmly. "I sure as hell won't trust you with my life." With that, the Hyuuga walked around Naruto and out of the Hokage's office, ignoring Hinata's desperate attempts to get him to return. The door closed and everyone in the room came back to life. But no one spoke. Tsunade stood at her desk, her hand holding Neji's hitaite loosely, her eyes wide and on the door. Naruto's fists were clenched and his gaze was on the floor.

"Baka," he muttered. "Baka. Baka, Neji!" Shikamaru looked at him, not believing his feigned anger at the Hyuuga for a moment.

"You know that it's our fault this happened, Naruto," the Nara said seriously. Naruto froze and the Nara knew that the Uzumaki believed him. He knew that the blonde boy knew.

"It's not the fact that we didn't believe him," Shikamaru continued. "It's the fact that he can't place his trust in us as his friends and expect us to uphold him. Not after this anyway. He thought us his friends and the first thing we did was accuse him of attacking an innocent civilian unprovoked." Everyone now looked down in guilt and the Nara continued.

"He can't call us his friends if we don't believe him about something as trivial as this. And that's why he did what he did. And that's why we all feel guilty as hell right now." He chuckled and pushed himself up off the window sill, walking over to the door, hands in his pockets, lazy expression adorning his features. Ino looked at him timidly.

"Where are you going?" she asked, her voice true to the remorse she felt. Shikamaru stopped at the door and looked at her. He grinned.

"I'm going to make things right with Neji," he said. "If you were smart, you'd do the same." With that, the Nara turned and walked out of the Hokage's office, letting the guilt hang with self resent.

He wasn't called genius for nothing.

* * *

**One shot. Plot bunny #562. **

**I wrote this totally on impulse. I saw this on cheysuli.envy and I had to write it! **

**Tell me what u thought!**


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